Drones Deliver Mail and Packages In France

December 30, 2014 - When Benjamin Franklin was postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 (way before he was an American revolutionary), he probably never imagined letters and packages being delivered in flying machines. "Air mail" is old news to us some 200 years later, and no longer considered special. In 2014, France's postal service LaPoste is testing mail delivery by six-propeller drones, which are unmanned flying robots.

Six-propeller drone by GeoPost can deliver
or medicines to remote areas in France 

 "This week, LaPoste, France’s postal service, announced that its package-delivery subsidiary, GeoPost, had successfully completed initial tests of a service to deliver lightweight mail and packages via drone. The tests were conducted by CEEMA or the Centre d’Études et d’Essai pour Modèles Autonomes (the Center for Autonomous Model Testing and Studies), which is part of the company helping to build the drone." ~ VentureBeat.com

That's cool, but only in concept. The average French citizen is still a long way from receiving mail via drone. VentureBeat notes that in recent tests, "the drone demonstrated it could reliably carry a package up to 2 kilograms in ranges up to 1.2 kilometers." But then again, this project is still very experimental and not intended to replace large-scale mail delivery-by-humans.

Robots in the sky may not soon be delivering packages to remote French villas. "The drone delivery possibilities are still be explored at this point," says  Slashgear, "but the idea behind it all is that rural and otherwise remote locations -- or regions temporarily blocked by things like flooding -- can have needed medical supplies and such delivered at faster rates than by vehicle."

Ben Franklin went
postal years ago

The French drone tests were conducted "in collaboration with the company Atechsys at La Poste's special test site in the Var, southern France, used a six-propeller drone able to carry loads of up to 16 inches by 12 inches by eight inches in size and weighing up to nine pounds in all weathers and terrains within a 12-mile radius," reports The Telegraph (UK).

For the near future, French drones will deliver mail only in rural areas. French law does not allow drones to fly over heavily populated areas.

French drone delivers parcels to remote areas

Limited though the drones may be, this is actually a great idea, even if the drones do not seem suited to replace human postal carriers on any large scale. But the real purpose, says The Telegraph, "is to be able to fly the drones in remote areas or places difficult to reach by car – up very steep roads, down hillsides and areas with few roads and over water." GeoPost says the mechanical mailmen can "reach isolated zones very rapidly," which would be valuable for "urgent medical needs or blood deliveries."

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has nightmarish budget problems, and unpaid robots delivering the mail might seem like an idea whose time has come. President Obama has said that the USPS should replace human mail carriers with drones or face being shut down.

“Postal Carriers in the United States bring home an hourly wage of $18.25 to $25.82 per hour,” Obama said at a conference in July. “These men and women bring home anywhere from $37,950.00 to $53,700.00 annually. It is no wonder the price of our postage is on a consistent increase.”

“Persons living in the United States today cannot afford to feed their families,” Obama continued. “While they are stuck working on minimum wage salaries. Why should the government be paying so much to mail carriers, when their neighbors cannot afford to eat?” He adds that he feels it is a waste for the Federal Government to be paying these workers this much money when a drone from WIT can do the same job and cost a lot less to operate."

Obama did not address the fact that humans replaced by drones would no longer be able to afford to feed their own families because their neighbors' welfare checks are being delivered by robots.

Also See:
France's La Poste develops drone to deliver parcels Telegraph (UK)
Obama Gives USPS Ultimatum To Deliver Mail By Drones Wyoming Institute of Technology 
FAA Poised To Miss Deadline For Drone Regulations Daily Caller
No Roads? There's a drone for that Andreas Raptopoulos

Apple's New iPad Air 2: Slimmer, More Powerful

October 16, 2014 - Apple's iPad Air 2 tablet (also known as the iPad 6) looks familiar but has a thinner body than last year's iPad Air. Needless to say, Apple added new features and updated most of the others. And because size does matter, the iPad Air 2 is only 6.1mm thick, less than half the thickness of the original iPad. It's thin enough that Apple calls it the world's thinnest tablet.

iPad Air 2 from Apple (click to enlarge)

Nice price: Although it's got lots of improvements, the iPad Air 2 price is the same as its predecessor. "The iPad Air 2 starts at $500 for the 16GB version," writes reviewer Eric Limer at Gizmodo today, "the same price the original Air debuted at. Bigger storage sizes come in $100 increments up to 64GB, with an additional $130 premium for LTE versions. Meanwhile the original Air is getting $100 lopped off its price, and now starts at $400."

The Verge's Jacob Kastrenakes writes that the tablet will be offered in gold, silver, and gray beginning at $499 for a 16GB, Wi-Fi only model. Apple is also offering models with additional storage, selling 64GB for $599 and 128GB for $699. A version of the tablet with LTE is also available, with each model being sold at a $130 premium to the Wi-Fi version."

Check out the video review from Mashable, below. More after the video..... 



The iPad Air 2 has an exciting new camera, too. It's now got an 8 megapixel sensor with 1.12 micron pixels and a lens with an f2.4 aperture, reports The Verge.  "It's able to record 1080p video and slow-motion video, camera panoramas, take photos in burst mode or time lapse mode — all of which have been previously introduced on iPhones. The front camera has a new sensor too and a larger aperture of f2.2."

Another exciting new feature: The touch ID fingerprint sensor. It seems that it will allow authentication of your identity only for online purchasing and cannot be used in brick-and-mortar stores. It can also be used to lock your iPad Air 2, sign in to secure apps, approve purchases from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store, and more.

Pre-orders for the iPad Air 2 begin tomorrow (October 17), and will begin shipping out next week.

Videos Show How To Annihilate Your iPhone 6

September 24, 2014 - Has your iPhone 6 bent yet? If so, you should consider totally destroying Apple's new, flimsy smartphone. Don't get mad, get even. Here are several creative ways to annihilate your iPhone 6. A dip in liquid nitrogen, shoot it with a 50-caliber bullet, or burn it up with thermite, or throw it into a blender. The videos below, by YouTuber RatedRR, will give you some ideas and, we hope, relieve some of your iPhone 6 buyer's remorse.










Also See:
iPhone 6 receives its own ‘bend test,’ is ‘far more durable’ than iPhone 6 Plus iPhone Hacks

Apple's Unintentionally Bendable iPhone 6

Unbox Therapy: Bending Apples on YouTube

September 24, 2014 - Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are prone to bending and even cracking, according to numerous reports and experimentation.

"The latest ultra-slim iPhone 6 can be warped as some owners are finding out after carrying the sleek aluminum phones in their pants pockets. Apple reports selling 10 million new phones in the three days since the devices debuted last Friday," reports New York Daily News. "

It's not just a rumor, and #BendGate is a hot topic on Twitter.

"#Bendgate is the predictable term that has flooded social media over the last 24 hours," reports Forbes today. "It comes after a video from Unbox Therapy [left] went viral after demonstrating that it was relatively easy to bend the iPhone 6 Plus. The video itself was a response to scattered reports of the iPhone 6 Plus bending in owners’ front and back pockets."

"This started a flame war between Apple fans and haters," continued Forbes, "and a number of defences were written including ‘Duh: Of Course the iPhone 6 Plus Can Bend in Your Pocket’ on Wired. Unbox Therapy then poured petrol on these flames with a second video (below) showing not only that trying to straighten a bent iPhone 6 Plus can shatter the screen, but that under the same tests a Galaxy Note 3 was fine."

Some, including Apple, have tried to blame tight jeans for the bending. Engadget points out that it's really "an issue of building materials."  Both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have an aluminum chassis "spread over a wider area than any previous iPhone" and "with enough pressure and leverage, it's going to bend, and some owners reported similar issues with the iPhone 5"

If your new iPhone 6 has already bent or cracked, you might want to just destroy it completely. Think of the emotional satisfaction you'll get. See  "Videos Show How To Annihilate Your iPhone 6."

Also See:
Even BlackBerry is making fun of the bendable iPhone 6 CNET
Samsung acts on Apple threat, launches Galaxy Note 4 earlier GMSArena
iPhone 6 Plus vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Aesthetics and design CNET
iPhone 6 receives its own ‘bend test,’ is ‘far more durable’ than iPhone 6 Plus iPhone Hacks

Coding Bootcamps in California Struggle to Survive Regulation Overkill

January 31, 2014 - You would think that the government, at any level, would welcome and encourage anything that will help people get decent jobs. If so, your thinking is incorrect. Remember: Government is not interested in helping you, but only in helping the the government itself and the gray bureaucrats that cling to it like leaches. That's no truer anywhere than in over-regulated California.

"Don’t you dare attempt any constructive activity," notes Moonbattery with biting sarcasm, "especially something that will help alleviate unemployment, unless you have acquired approval and fully submitted to any conceivably applicable needless and cumbersome regulations -- even if bureaucrats’ glacial pace and pyramid-sized tangles of red tape would put you out of business."

VIDEO: Russian Rocket Crashes Seconds After Takeoff

Russian Proton-M Rocket Crash, 2 July 2013

July 2, 2013 - "An unmanned Russian space rocket has crashed to earth just seconds after launch," reports Russia Today (RT). The rocket launched at 6.38 am (0238 GMT) and "was carrying three satellites meant for Russia's Glonass global navigation system."

Russian Rocket Crash Videos: In the first video below, RT gives a report in English. The second video below is in Russian but shows the entire launch-to-crash more fully. The third video shows another viewpoint as a busload of photographers scramble when they realize that they might be in danger from the falling rocket.

The launch took place at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhastan. The rocket had more than 600 tons of highly toxic fuel. The crash happened only 10 to 15 seconds after liftoff. "It was the second unsuccessful launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket with the DM-03 booster in the past three years," says The Moscow Times. A report this morning at RT's website says that "Immediately after takeoff, the rocket swerved to one side, tried to correct itself, but instead veered in the opposite direction. It then flew horizontally and started to come apart with its engines in full thrust. Making a huge arch in the air, the rocket plummeted back to earth and exploded on impact close to another launch pad used for Proton commercial launches.

There are "fears of a possible toxic fuel leak" just now, but RT reports that "no such leak has been confirmed." No casualties or damage to the nearby town of Baikonur were reported. However, an AFP report at Hurriyet Daily News says that "A Roskosmos spokesman could not immediately say whether people living near the crash site were being evacuated."  Story continues below videos:







"Russia lost three Glonass satellites in December 2010 when a Proton-M veered off course and crashed in the Pacific Ocean," reports The Moscow Times today. "The rocket was also equipped with a DM-3 booster, designed and manufactured by the Energia space corporation. A state investigation commission later concluded that Energia experts miscalculated how much fuel was needed for the DM-3 rocket booster. As a result, the amount of oxidant exceeded the norm by 1-1.5 tons and excessive weight prevented the Proton-M rocket from putting the satellites into their calculated orbit."

Watch The Sukhoi Su-35 "UFO" Fighter Jet Dance On Air

Sukhoi Su-35 (Photo: Reuters/Pascal Rossigno)

June 21, 2013 - Russia's Sukhoi Su-35 has such incredible maneuverability and grace that it has been nicknamed the "UFO." (Watch Below)

The Su-35 version of the Sukhoi is even more maneuverable than its predecessors, "New engines enable Su-35 to perform all kinds of stunts," reports Russia Today, "including Pugachev's Cobra, the Frolov Chakra, the Dead Leaf, and the unprecedented Pancake, which is an horizontal 360-degree made turn without losing speed." The Sukhoi is designed for tight, close air support.

A report at Military.com says that the Sukhoi Su-35 "is a Russian heavy class, long-range, multi-role one-seat fighter. Developed from the original Su-27 air superiority fighter, it was originally designated Su-27M and later named Su-35. Due to the similar features and components it contains, the Su-35 is considered a close cousin of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, a modernized Su-30 variant for India."

The video here shows a "UFO" at the 50th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris. The air show runs from June 17-23. The show was the first time that a Sukhoi showed off its advanced maneuverability on foreign soil, says Engineering.com. More below video...



The Su-35, says Engineering.com, "is meant to match the speed and maneuverability of the United States’ 5th generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor" (made by Lockheed-Martin). The Su-35's amazing maneuverability is due largely to its ability to change the direction of its engine thrust. "Known as thrust vectoring, this engine technology gives the Su-35 greater control over its angular velocity and altitude." For total geek info about the Su-35, visit Milavia.com. Continuted below video...



The Su-35 is "not a fifth-generation plane like the F-35, with all the attendant problems," reports Business Insider. "It is a 4++ generation plane with all the tried and true basics overlaid with cutting edge avionics and navigation equipment. It's hard to tell which is the better jet, but one of them has no problem flying and that's an issue the F-35 can't seem to shake."

Sukhoi Su-35 (Photo: Reuters/Pascal Rossigno)

Lockheed-Martin's F-35 has had a long and bitter struggle to get approval. It has been criticized as being extremely expensive, and still suffers from a number of technical problems. Even so, reports BreakingDefense.com, "the Marines need the F-35 badly because it would replace their F/A-18s, EA-6Bs and AV-8Bs, all of which are at or over their expected service life." And there is no other viable choice at this time.

Sukhoi is Russia’s major aircraft holding company, employing more than 26,000 people. All of the stock of the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company (JSC) belongs to the United Aircraft Corporation (JSC), says the Sukhoi website. "The Company is Russia's major manufacturer of export aircraft, placed 3rd in the world in terms of the numbers of modern fighters produced."

Is This The Future Of Pizza Delivery?

When pizzas fly: Domino's DomiCopter Delivers

June 5, 2013 - Drones are not inherently bad. They are a tool, and like any tool they can be used for good or evil. Not all drones carry missiles. Thanks to Domino's, at least one drone carries pizza.

The "DomiCopter" drone was created by T + Biscuits, a UK creative digital agency in Shoreditch. They came up with the clever idea for client Domino's. The a husky little drone can carry a hot delivery bag swiftly to a customer's front door. Or 40th floor balcony. T + Biscuits says this about their work with Domino's:

"The DomiCopter is a project we worked on with Domino’s Pizza AeroSight, a UK based drone specialist and Big Communications. We were looking at innovative ways to deliver pizza and thought, ‘what is cooler than a flying pizza?’.. it turns out not much. The response we have had so far has been great and so far it has featured on NBC, MSN and a number of other large organisations. The video has had 17,000+ views in just under 12 hours and our emails have been going mad with inquiries as to when people may be getting their food delivered by the DomiCopter. You will have to just wait and see…. and then wait."

Let's see that cool video of the DomiCopter, shot in the UK:

Straight Talk Your Way To A Fatter Wallet!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

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If you're like me or Scott Canterbury, you don't like getting bills even in the best of time. These days, however, everyone wants to cut back on costs. Having reliable cell phone service is a necessity, so it's good to know that you don't have to be locked into a contract to get good service.

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Seriously, imagine the wads of money you could save just by switching to Straight Talk. What would you buy with the extra money you save? Think about it: No contracts, no surprise bills and no credit checks. Straight Talk gives you excellent coverage nationwide and great reception and connectivity. Furthermore, Straight Talk only uses trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung. That’s top notch. No second rate junk here.

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Airbus Announces See-Through Airplane for 2050 Flight

On June 14, 2011, French aircraft builder Airbus unveiled plans for its "Concept Cabin" (see video below) which Airbus calls "a whole new flying experience inspired by nature." The Concept Cabin would feature a "neural network" of artificial intelligence (AI) that sets up an "intelligent interface between passenger and plane." The plane's AI would enable passengers to verbally request changes in their environment, such as seats that change to a person's body shape. We don't know if the Concept Cabin will produce tea, Earl Gray, hot on request; we suspect that traditional human flight attendants will still be needed for that. Perhaps the most stunning feature of the Concept Cabin, however, is its ability to become transparent. Airbus says that "The aircraft’s bionic structure mimics the efficiency of bird bone which is optimised to provide strength where needed, and allows for an intelligent cabin wall membrane which controls air temperature and can become transparent to give passengers open panoramic views." More about the Concept Cabin at Airbus.com... Story continues below this video "The structure of the plane itself is straight out of an Asimov novel," writes gogalavanting.com. "Per the Airbus renderings, the Concept Cabin features an entirely transparent roof. According to a release, the 'bionic structure mimics the efficiency of bird bone which is optimised to provide strength where needed, and allows for an intelligent cabin wall membrane which controls air temperature and can become transparent to give passengers open panoramic views.' There are no further details about how the technology of the membrane will be developed." Although Airbus has not said how they would make the plane transparent, there has been work for years on making opaque materials see-through. "Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium," reported PhysOrg in July, 2009, "by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion." Trouble is, the transparency effect lasts for only 40 femtoseconds (one millionth of a nanosecond or 10 -15 of a second and is a measurement sometimes used in laser technology) and requires bombardment by an extremely powerful x-ray laser. Some great photos of the Concept Cabin can be seen at The Daily Bhaskar.

Tiny Steve Jobs Injured In Tragic iPad Accident

March 2, 2011 - San Francisco - Apple CEO Steve Jobs, recently miniaturized, was injured yesterday when an iPad was accidentally set down on him during a press event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The accident happened as a product demonstrator misread his cues and did not see the tiny Jobs, who stood where the iPad was to be displayed. The demonstrator placed the iPad on top of Jobs, who suffered a number of broken bones was rushed to a nearby hospital. He is reported to be in stable condition today. Scientists at Apple had secretly made Jobs shrink to a mere 2.5 inches in height just minutes before the event to demonstrate Apple's ability to make things smaller. Apple's Chief of Miniaturization Dr. Robert Little, Ph.D. told Chicago News Bench, "We thought, wow, what a cool way to really emphasize just how thin and slim the new iPad is," said Dr. Little. "We never thought the product demonstrator would set the iPad on top of him. This is a tragedy for all of us. We hope he makes it." The new iPad measures 9.5 by 7.3 by 0.34 inches, and weighs 1.33 pounds. Dr. Little points out, however, that to a man who is only 2.5 inches tall and weighing four ounces, the iPad is huge. "It would be like having a small house set down on top of you," Dr. Little said. "Kind of like that witch in the Wizard of Oz, you know?" Another Apple spokesman, who asked to remain anonymous, said he warned his colleagues to not miniaturize Steve Jobs. "This whole trend of making things smaller and smaller has gotten out of hand," he said. "You get to a point where small is good, but we've gone too far." Dr. Little said that they cannot restore Steve Jobs to his original size until he has recovered from his injuries. "If we tried to do that," he said, "he would burst through the miniaturized body cast that he's in now. That would not be good."

First Atlantic Radio Transmission Still Controversial

On December 12, 1901, a radio signal was sent across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Canada. It was the first time that a wireless transmission ever crossed such a distance, and in 2010 the credit for the invention of radio is still the subject of heated debate. Was the "father of radio" really Marconi, or was it a lesser-remembered scientist? "Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less. The message--simply the Morse-code signal for the letter 's'--traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada." (History.com) How did Marconi's transatlantic radio signal manage to cross the Atlantic? As any late-night listener of AM radio knows today, it "skipped" across, bouncing off of the ionosphere. When you're able to hear an AM radio station, or short wave or ham transmission for that matter, after the sun sets, it's because the ionosphere reflects the space-bound signal back to Earth, over the horizon. Marconi was certainly a brilliant scientist, and he deserved credit for making his transoceanic transmission. In fact, he won a Nobel Prize for Physics for his work in 1909 (shared with Ferdinand Braun). A century later, there is still debate over Marconi's role in the invention of radio technology. Guglielmo Marconi was a radio innovator, for sure, and he did much to advance radio. But who really invented the hardware, if you will, that made Marconi's work possible? Many, including the U.S. Supreme Court, say that it was really the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. (There is no mention of Nikola Tesla anywhere on the official website of the Nobel Prize.) In an article titled "The Invention of Radio," writer Mary Bellis notes this: "Nikola Tesla is now credited with being the first person to patent radio technology; the Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent in 1943 in favor of Tesla." Full article at About.com... Tesla was far ahead of the technology curve. So far, in fact, that he had already "invented radio and created the original basic design as early as 1892. In 1898 he patented a radio controlled robot-boat and demonstrated it at the Electrical Exhibition in Madison Square Garden." (Source: Tesla Society of USA and Canada) Tesla sued the Marconi Company for infringement after Marconi won his Nobel Prize, in 1915. Tesla, however, "was in no financial condition to litigate a case against a major corporation. It wasn't until 1943—a few months after Tesla's death— that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tesla's radio patent number 645,576." (Source: Timelines.com) Marconi died in 1937. Other Tesla inventions include a telephone repeater, rotating magnetic field principle, polyphase alternating-current system, induction motor, alternating-current power transmission, Tesla coil transformer, wireless communication, radio, fluorescent lights, and more than 700 other patents. (Source: Neuronet.pitt.edu) RELATED: Marconi sends first Atlantic wireless transmission History.com Tesla Files Lawsuit Against Guglielmo Marconi Timelines.com Who Invented Radio? PBS United States Supreme Court decision (320 U.S. 1, 38) radiomarconi.com Mayor Laguardia's eulogy to Tesla, January 10, 1943 TeslaSociety.org Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World (with video) topdocumentaryfilms.com Tesla timeline, inventions, patents and more Tesla Universe Tesla Society of USA and Canada Directory:Tesla's Patent List peswiki.com Nathan Stubblefield - Forgotten Genius Of Wireless Phones Rense.com Earth Energy and Vocal Radio - Nathan Stubblefield HBCI.com

Is The HP Computer Racist?

"The HP Webcam does not pick up negroes," says Desi, a black man who bought a new HP Mediasmart computer with facial recognition software. This allows a web camera to recognize a human face and follow that person. Trouble is, if your skin is too dark it seems to have trouble recognizing you. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) would love this thing. In the video below, we see Desi and a white co-worker named Wanda as they demonstrate the facial recognition software on a new HP Mediasmart computer. It follows Wanda just fine, but Desi seems invisible to the machine. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

AVATAR, The Trailer

Frigging cool movie trailer for "Avatar," an effing cool movie, releasing on December 18. Related: Avatar + Interactive Trailer + Twitter = Awesome Leave a Comment Conservative T-Shirts Follow CNB on Twitter RSS Feed

FIREFOX SECURITY THREAT

FireFox browser users may not have the security that they're so smug about. Guru3D reports yesterday that there is a viral threat that is attacking FireFox users. The Trojan disguises itself as a legitimate add-on to FireFox. If you are a FireFox usr, please be aware that there is a new trojan on the loose stealing passwords realted banking accounts. It's a new type of malware designed to harvest web passwords has been detected in-the-wild by BitDefender’s antivirus research labs. This latest e-threat – called Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A – is intended to be delivered onto a compromised computer system by other malware for subsequent download into Mozilla Firefox's Plugin folder. Once installed it gets to work every time Firefox is started. More from Guru3D... This is not the first time FireFox has been attacked by a Trojan horse virus. In July, 2008, cnet.news reported on the FormSpy Trojan RELATED: Scammers Target Users of Firefox to Obtain Banking Information Malware found that specifically targets Firefox users Malware posing as Firefox plugin steals login information Firefox Trojan Masquerades as Legit Add-On BitDefender identifies Firefox specific add-on trojan Nearly all computers running on Microsoft Windows vulnerable Perilous Plug-Ins May Plague Chrome

Biofuels Worse Than Gasoline

Time Magazine, hardly a right-wing publication, has this report about the stupidity of biofuels and the idiocy of eco-trendiness. They write the following in their March 27 issue: Propelled by mounting anxieties over soaring oil costs and climate change, biofuels have become the vanguard of the green-tech revolution, the trendy way for politicians and corporations to show they're serious about finding alternative sources of energy and in the process slowing global warming.... But several new studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it's dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it. Corn ethanol, always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous. Even cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, which has been promoted by eco-activists and eco-investors as well as by President Bush as the fuel of the future, looks less green than oil-derived gasoline. READ THE FULL STORY...

Yahoo (Exclamation Mark Not Included).

It could be the beginning of the end of the world as Yahoo! has known it. The comments to Hackosphere's post are very interesting, too. How Yahoo Lost Its Exclamation Mark Poor Yahoo.. After reading this TechCrunch post, I feel really bad for its founders and employees. I think Jerry Yang would be longing for those early days when the company was controlled by him and not external entities and shareholders. Looks like they have a tough decision to make today. "Should we sell our souls and succumb to Microsoft or partner with Google for search advertising which may also be shot down by DOJ?". Either way, it's not good for the employees because there will be massive layoffs. FULL POST...

Iran Going Off World

But not nearly as fully as we'd like. Unfortunately, only a teeny tiny chunk of Iran will eventually be thrown off of this planet. Why? Cuz they have a space program now! They can't even brew up their own freeking gasoline but they want to orbit the frikkin' Earth? Talk about effed up priorities. More about this from an off-Bench blog: Just like the nuclear program is only-- only -- for electricity, this is only about launching a satellite. A cover for ballistic missile development? Nah. READ ""It's life, Jim, but not as we know it": Iran launches space program NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.